Gas mask for horses



March 2, 1943. o. HERBIN GAS MASK FOR HORSES Filed May 29, 1940 2Shee-ts-Sheet l March 2, 1943. o. HEREIN GAS MASK FOR HORS-ES Fiied May29, 1940 2 sheets-sheet 2 @VAI/ Paltented Mar. 2, 1943 GAS MASK FORHORSES Oscar Herbin, Le Fidelaire. Eure, France; vested in the AlienProperty Custodian applicati@ May 29, 1940, serial N0. 337,934

In France May 5, 1938 Claims. (Cl. 12s-141) The present invention hasfor its object a gas mask for horses, characterized by its arrangementwhich enables free use to be made of the reins, and the combination o1 apart of the mask with the harness of the horse so that the harness thuscompleted is always ready to receive the lter portion of the maskwithout in any way hindering the breathing or the feeding of the horse.

The accompanying drawings show diagrammatically, by way of anonlimitative example, one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 1 shows a complete view of the mask and of the modiiied harness;this view also shows that the mask may be completed by protectingspectacles which may be independent or not.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the mask shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of same.

Fig. 4 shows a section of a modification of the part of the mask whichis combined with the harness, enabling thicknesses of impregnated gauzeto be-used instead of lter packs. This part is always ready to receivethe independent iiltering portion.

Fig. 5 is a general view of the mounting of the filter bag.

Fig. 6 shows a modiiled mounting and Fig. '7 a method of construction ofan outlet valve.

Fig. 8 shows a modication of mounting in which the filter packs areiitted in an intermediate box, forming a valve box, by means of anarrangement of screws and nuts forming air ducts and on which aremovable inletvalve may be arranged.

Fig. 9 shows a modication of mounting of said intermediate box, whereinthe inlet nozzle is offset in order to enable a lter pack of largediameter to be used.

Fig. 9a is a detailed showing of a. diierent mounting for the inletvalve.

Fig. 10 shows a filter pack of large area.

Fig. 11 shows a lter box arranged behind the saddle of an artillerycarrier horse, said box being connected to the mask through a exibletube.

Fig. 12 shows a bag of regenerated atmospheric air suspended from theneck of the horse which is harnessed for pulling.

Hitherto, the protection of horses from poison gas had been contemplatedmore particularly by means of nose-bags madev of iiltering fabric whichhindered the animals breathing and had the drawback of being dimcult toiit in a gas- Cif tight manner on the horses head. Such apparatusquickly tired the horse and made it iriicapable of exerting thenecessary strength for pulling heavy material.

The objects of the present invention consist in improvements which areintended to overcome these drawbacks.

A gas mask constructed according to the invention comprises a.cylindrical or truncated cone shaped body I, made o1 impermeable leatheror like material, on which is xed a metal carrier 2 by any known means,for example by means of a clamping collar 3. Said body is closed by astructure to be described which can be clamped to the body I by means ofa band 4 and sealed in relation to the anlmals head by the pressure ofresilient parts 5 made of sponge rubber.

This arrangement enables the mask to be opened sufficiently for the bit6 to be passed into the horses mouth. The bit 6 may be made in one or aplurality of parts and is hermetically fixed in the mask and terminallyprovided with fixing rings 'I and 8 for the reins.

Inside the mask there is arranged a U-shaped metal blade 9 which maycarry two metal rings shown at I0 and II and which serves to keep thehorses nostrils spaced from the wall of the masks. The member 9 ispreferably of metal having an outer wall to fit against the interior ofthe body I and integral top, inner and bottom walls. The inner wall isdownwardly divergent from the outer wall, as shown more particularly inFigure 2.

The mask thus constructed is fastened to the normal harness o1 the horseby means of the rings 'I and 8 of the bit, exactly as if it were a.snaille bit.

The leather thongs forming the snaflie may also be attached to saidrings by means of springhooks such as that shown at I2.

These supports may be completed by an arrangement of thongs ofadjustable height, composed of two thongs I3 which are placed on eitherside of the horses head, are secured to a front thong I4 and arepreferably completed by a throat-latch I5.

By this means the mask proper is much more emciently supported and thethongs may end at the xing ears of the removable filtering portion. i

Said ltering portion is composed of a valve box I6, which is connectedto the metal part of the leather mask by means of a circular joint I1and may be secured to said leather mask by any known means, such ashooks Il', which are preferably connected to the complementary thongs ofthe harness. i

Said valve box contains two valves of know system and iilters coveringsaid valves. The intake valve shown as I8, which is composed of a micaplate adapted to. bear on a seat I9, is protected by a filter 20. v

This intake valve is preferably located at the front part of the mask,while an outlet valve 22 is located at the rear in order to permit theoutflow of the horses foam through the outlet hole 23, without therebyimpairing the hermeticity of the mask. v

The outlet valve 22 is made of rubber, in order to enable it to closehermetically even when foreign bodies are introduced into the valve box.On said box there is adapted to screw a lter box 24, similar to theillter boxes used for human gasmasks, but of larger area.

This box may, however, be completed by a grating and a protector 25which prevents the animal from dirtying the pack when it brings it intocontact with the ground.

Such a mask may be completed by spectacles S which are likewise adaptedto be clamped on the head and are hermetically pressed thereon by meansof two rings of sponge rubber clamped by a thong 25.

In the modification of Fig. 4, the gas mask is again composed of acylindrical part or a truncated cone shaped part made of leather orimpermeable materials I, on which there is fixed a metal circle 2 by anyknown means, for example by means of a sliding clamp 3. The part I maybe closed by a device of the bellows type, adapted to be clamped bymeans of a thong 4 and the bellows are preferably arranged on eitherside of the mask, as shown at 25, hermeticity being obtained by anyknown means, for example by pressure on the horses head by means of anelastic or sponge rubber part, as 5'.

The bit 5, which may be made in one or a plurality of parts, ishermetically fixed in the mask and the horses nostrils are spaced fromthe wall by means of the member 9.

This fixed part of the mask is connected to the harness, and it isadapted to have tted thereto a special outlet valve which, moreover,only operates when the mask is completely mounted.

The construction of said valve is shown in Fig. '1, which consists inarranging on the wall of the part I of the mask, a metal part 26 whichhermetically covers the hole 21 and which terminates, on the one hand ina collecting cup 28, and on the other hand in a protecting part 29, itbeing possible to obstruct the hole by means of a Valve 30, ofconventional form, the movement of which is limited by abutments 3I.

The cup 28 is intended, during thel operation of the mask, to collectthe water of condensation' or the foam of the horse and evacuate them,the abutments 3I allowing these liquids to flow out without in any wayhindering the operation of the valve.

The filtering portion shown in Fig. 5 is composed of a bag 32 made offiltering fabric, which is xed, when the mask is about to be used, onthe circle 2 by means of a flexible thong such as 33 which serves tocompress the upper part of the bag in order to ensure hermeticity.

Before placing this filtering bag in position, an inlet valve isarranged inside the circle 2, as shown in Fig. 5, for example byarranging said valve on a plate 34 which may be fixed inside the Aremovable structure is thus obtained which has a large illtering area,is easy to place in position and is hermetic owing to joints such as 33,although such joints are not absolutely necessary.

A modification may be provided as shown in Fig. 6, which consists inmounting on the plate 34, both the inlet valve 36 which is protected bya strainer 31, as stated above. and an outlet valve 40, which ispreferably made of rubber and communicates with the outside through ahole 4I.

The outlet valve 40 is arranged to permit al1 the foam or condensationwater which have been collected in a cup whereof the bottom is formed bythe plate 34, to be evacuated.

The bag made of filtering fabric is in this case. permanently xed bymeans of the thong 33 on a box 42 depending from the plate 34, said boxbeing fixed on the circle 2 of the fixed mask with the interposition ofa joint 43 by means of hooks 43 which are identical to those describedabove.

In this case, the valve plate and the bag 32 made of lteringfabric maybe removed as a unit, thereby allowing the animal complete freedom ofbreathing.

' In this latter case, it is unnecessary to provide on the body of thefixed mask any additional out- 'let valve such as that shown in Fig. 7.

Such valve 40 may be arranged preferably at the rear and towards thebottom of the iixed part of the mask where it is\better protected.Similarly, this arrangement facilitates the outflow of the condensationwater' owing to the position normally taken up by the head of the animalwhen the horse is at rest.

A large filtering area is thus obtained, which eliminates the greaterpart of the drawbacks of these fabrics and avoids materially hinderingthe animals breathing.

In order to prevent the flltering bag from becoming dirty, it may beprotected by an oil-cloth cover, or by arranging on the fixed part ofthe mask, a protecting device made o`f rubber or of leather or of anyother similar material, such as that shown at 44 and which forms a.shield to be xed to the collar 2 by any known means, for example bymeans of a clamping collar 3 similar to that previously described.

'I'his shield may be swung down to an operative protective position forthe filtering bag, or,

when theltering bag has been removed, the shield may be swung up, asindicated in Figure 4, where it is more protected against damage.

Fig. 8 shows a modication of the metal collar which iits on the metalcircle 2 previously referred to.

The removable portion, which may be tted on the metal circle 2 by meansof hooks 40', is essentially a cylindrical box in which the previouslymentioned plate 34 again carries a valve 40 of known type;the vertical.wall provided with a set of ventilation holes 4 I". The bottom 45 ofsaid cylindrical box is fixed to the vertical walls partly by means ofthe fixed hooks 46 and by the tube 41 formed as a threaded member toreceive a tube 48. The threaded connection between the tubes 41 and 48insures a suiilcient clamping of the parts, fluid-tightness beingprovided if necessary by a plastic joint 49.

The tube 41 is iixed to the bottom 45 by the circular weld 50 which isthe only weld in the whole apparatus.

A conventional valve I is carried by the base of a screw-threaded tube52, xed in the tube 41.

A bag 53 of iiltering fabric may be xed in a 5 groove vin the bottom 45by a ligature 54. Said bag may be an anti-arsine device and maybe linedwith impregnated gauze.

An anti-arsine box 56, the contents of which are solid or not, may betted by means of an impermeable sleeve 55 which is xed by means of thesame ligature 54. The whole arrangement may be covered with impregnatedgauze.

According to Fig. 9, the bottom 45, which is supported as above by`means of the hooks 45, the

screw-threaded tube 41 and to the nut 48 and by the weld 50, is providedwith a double bottom 51 carrying at its center a screw-threadedconnection 58. The connection 58 permits a lter pack of large diameterto be used or a connection to be made by means of a exible tube 10 to alter box 1I which is arranged behind the saddle of the horse, as inFigure 11, or to the regenerated air bag 12 suspended from the animalsneck, as in Figure 12.

In the case of the filter pack, the inlet valve 5| may be arranged onsaid pack and in the case of the connection by means of a hose to aiilter box arranged behind the animals saddle or to a bag of regeneratedatmospheric air suspended from its neck, said inlet valve 5I may beplaced in the screw-threaded connection, as

shown in Figure 9a.

Fig. 10 shows a screw-threaded pack of large area, formed by felt ordust filtering paper 59,

which is pleated in known manner and lined with impregnated gauze 60which can be held by means of a grating or by any other means.

'I'he dismounted apparatus may be lodged in a bag provided with threecompartments: the rst 40 containing the pack and the valve box, the secvent the horses from continuing to full their mission and to give theirservice.

'I'he mask should remain xed to the harness so long as the horse is in adangerous zone and it is suicient to have in the pockets of the saddlefor example or in the carrying bag, the mov-.\

able part of the mask, to enable the valve box and the lter box to beattached to the mask proper in a few seconds and the complete protectionof the horse to beobtained, whereas when said mov- Byv using the devicefor connecting the lter box to the mask by means of a hose, lter boxesof much greater size may be constructed, without its being necessary tomake any alteration in the special harness of the horse.

It is obvious that the shapes, details, raw materials vemployed and thevarious arrangements, both for the adjustment of the thongs and forfixing the various parts, the details of attachment, the arrangement ofthe valves, the strainers, methods of fixing the filtering fabrics, mayvary without exceeding the scope of the present invention.

Also, the present mask may be used alone, without a harness.

While there has been described what is at present considered to be thepreferred embodiment of this invention, it will be obvious to thoseskilled in the art thatvarious changes and modications may be madetherein Without departing from the invention, and it is, therefore,aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modicationsas fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A gas mask for horses comprising a flexible cylindrical member, aband at the upper end of the member for securing the upper end of themember in air-tight relation to the animals head, a metallic collarclamped to the lower end of the member, a valve box removably connectedto the' collar, an inlet valve in said box, a lter section over-lyingthe valve, and-an outlet valve carried by the valve box to provide forthe exha-ling of the animal and the discharge of ex haled matter, theoutlet valve being of rubber toV ensure its automatic closing afteryielding under the exhalation force, and a exible filtering boxremovably clamped to the valve box.

2. A construction as dened in claim 1 wherein the valve means andfiltering element are removable from the valve box to completely exposeJ in the inlet valve includes a plate, a seat with which the platecooperates, and means for limiting the play of the plate with respect toits seat.

4. A construction as dened in claim 1 includ` upwardly to be disposedwholly above `the valve box when not in use.-

5. A construction as deiined inclaim 1 wherein the outlet valve overliesa deecting member f to deilect any exhaled material exteriorly. of theable part is not fixed to the mask, the horse can eat and drinknormally.

mask.

OSCAR Imaam.

